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WASHINGTON, October 31. /TASS/. Lawmakers from Nevada in both houses of the US Congress said they would oppose President Donald Trump’s attempts to resume nuclear testing, potentially to be conducted in their state, arguing that such actions are unwise and could ignite a new arms race. Representative Steven Horsford, Democrat of Nevada, who represents a district that houses a nuclear test site, said the state has done everything possible to prevent the return of nuclear testing. "Restarting this nuclear program goes against generations of impact that Nevada has already sacrificed," Horsford said. "This is something that impacts every community in the state," he added, emphasizing that there is no current justification for resuming full-scale testing, as subcritical tests and computer modeling already provide sufficient data. "For over 30 years, deterrence has remained strong without a single detonation and that is why we need to follow the science and the safety, not the politics," he stated. Representative Dina Titus, Democrat of Nevada, author of Bombs in the Backyard, a book on nuclear testing in the state, said there are plenty of reasons to reject new tests. "If you think about how hard we worked, how much time it took, how many pieces had to fall into place to put in an agreement with the Soviet Union, primarily, that we should stop testing, how could they [the new US administration] turn that clock back and restart an arms race? It's not only not safe for Nevadans, but it's not safe for our national security for the rest of the world," Titus said. Earlier, she announced plans to introduce legislation preventing Trump’s directive. Senator Jacky Rosen, Democrat of Nevada, warned that resuming nuclear testing would have dire consequences. "Make no mistake, this [test] would be devastating and catastrophic," Rosen said. "So I'm going to be crystal clear: I will not let this happen. Not on my watch. I will do everything I can in my power as a senator, as a United States citizen, to put a stop to this and protect families in my state of Nevada," she stated. On October 29, Trump announced that he had instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing. He did not specify the type of tests or whether they would involve nuclear detonations. Russia’s stance, debate in US Last summer, Robert O’Brien, former US National Security Advisor who served from 2019 to 2021 under President Donald Trump, called for the resumption of nuclear testing. In a June 2024 article in Foreign Affairs magazine, O’Brien argued that the United States should restart such tests as part of its strategic competition with Russia and China. Meanwhile, Vladimir Yermakov, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control, told TASS in an interview last February that several indirect signs indicate Washington may still be preparing to resume full-scale nuclear testing. The Russian leadership has repeatedly warned that if the US takes this step, Moscow will be forced to respond in kind. In an April interview with TASS, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu did not rule out the possibility of Russia resuming nuclear testing in response to similar moves by the United States. In May 2020, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration had discussed the idea of resuming nuclear testing. John Bolton, who served as National Security Advisor from 2018 to 2019, later confirmed that Washington had indeed considered this possibility. Brandon Williams, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), publicly opposed restarting nuclear weapons testing. In April, he stated that he was prepared to submit recommendations to the White House discouraging such a move. Subcritical experiments, presidential directive According to official statements, the US government planned to carry out two subcritical nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site in fiscal year 2024 and expects to conduct approximately three additional experiments each year through the end of the decade. The NNSA has not responded to repeated TASS inquiries about whether international observers will be invited to the Nevada site. Official US data show that 33 subcritical experiments have been conducted there since 1992. The US administration acknowledges that a presidential directive remains in effect requiring the country to maintain technical readiness for a full-scale nuclear test. The last underground nuclear explosion at the Nevada Test Site took place on September 23, 1992. Former NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby confirmed to TASS in November 2024 that there is no technical necessity for the United States to resume nuclear testing, despite renewed calls to do so. Between 1951 and 1992, the United States conducted both above-ground and underground nuclear weapons tests — more than 900 in total, most of them underground — at the Nevada Test Site, located about 104 kilometers northwest of Las Vegas. The above-ground tests caused serious health problems for Americans who lived and worked nearby.
